Entrusting Land To The Future

Our Towns

Colchester

February 06, 2002

Colchester preservationists who are trying to form a local land trust are taking the right approach.

In the past few years, the town has acquired about 400 acres of open space. Sharing management responsibilities and oversight for future land donations and purchases makes sense. Town officials can't do it all.

Some people would rather donate to a land trust than put their property in municipal hands. A land trust could encourage such gifts and give people guidance that might lead them to establish living trusts.

Watching Colchester's rapid growth might prompt more people to donate land or help buy open space. Residents need an organization to encourage that goal and to decide which parcels are worth the effort and expense of saving.

Land trusts are created to preserve open space, particularly in areas with valuable natural features such as wildlife habitat. The trust could identify desirable pieces of land and work to preserve them for public enjoyment.

A trust can also protect property through purchasing a conservation easement, under which the owner gives up development rights. Under this plan, open space is conserved and the owners get to remain on their land.

Joining an existing land trust, such as the nearby Mohegan Land Trust, might not work as well. Trust members couldn't concentrate on Colchester's needs and local property owners might not be as willing to donate to a regional group.

But a local land trust could still work in cooperation with others to protect tracts that cross town lines and to plan for mutual gains. Nearby communities should share some of the same preservation goals.

Colchester has formed a task force to inventory and manage town-owned open space. It has offered its support to help an independent trust as well. There couldn't be a better opportunity to launch this group.